France is emerging as the new partner-in-crime in support of America’s imperialist machinations across the globe.

Up until recently, that thuggish role was filled by British in what was euphemistically referred to as the “special Anglo-American relation”. Now the French are taking over from the British as the “oldest ally.”

French leader Francois Hollande is currently on a three-day visit to the US, greeted by President Barack Obama with full military honors and a 21-gun salute. “France and US enjoy renewed alliance,” reports the Washington Post.

The American president has gone out of his way to emphasize historical links between the two countries, with the opening visit for the two leaders taking place at Thomas Jefferson’s estate in Charlottesville, Virginia.

Jefferson was the US envoy to France leading up to the French revolution in 1795, before he went on to become the third president of the US following its war of independence from the British Crown.

To mark the beginning of Hollande’s trip, the two presidents penned an op-ed piece in the Washington Post in which they boasted of their prominent role in “global security.”

“More nations must step forward and share [our] burden and costs of leadership. More nations must meet their responsibilities for upholding global security and peace and advancing freedom and human rights,” wrote Obama and Hollande.

In other words, Obama and Hollande are exhorting other nations to similarly trash international law and embrace their style of state-sponsored gangsterism.

Of course, such self-congratulatory nonsense is to be expected coming from the world’s leading terrorist states. The US-led wars in Iraq and Afghanistan which killed more than one million people are still festering like open wounds, while the French have lately emerged as the new warmonger in Africa with four illegal interventions on that continent in the past four years – Cote d’Ivoire, Libya, Mali and currently the Central African Republic.

The portrayal of criminal wars of aggression inflicted on foreign countries as some kind of noble role of leadership upholding global security and peace” is truly sickening. It is a disturbing sign of the blatant lawlessness gripping the world – a reckless climate fostered by the very international conduct of Washington and Paris.

Obama and Hollande take perverse credit by claiming their countries’ threats of all-out war on Syria last August-September resulted in the Syrian government decommissioning its stockpile of chemical weapons.

The reality is that the US and France were on the brink of perpetrating yet another war crime based on a propaganda stunt carried out by Western-backed mercenaries – a stunt which killed hundreds of women and children.

It was only outraged public opinion around the world, as well as deft Russian diplomacy, that forced Washington and Paris to back down from their contrived aggression against Syria. This false-flag incident needs to be followed up with prosecution of American and French warmongers, not self-congratulatory op-ed pieces in the servile and equally complicit Western media.

This rogues’ gallery is why the Americans are pulling out all the sycophantic stops for their French guest this week. The French are providing the Americans with crucial political and moral cover for their imperialist wrecking-ball conduct around the world. Without the French, the Americans would appear isolated as the world’s biggest rogue terror state, or as it vainly refers to itself, “superpower.”

This French cover for naked American state terrorism is seen with regard to Syria, as noted above. It is also true for Iran. The French are lending credibility to the US claims that the delicate negotiations between the P5+1 and Tehran are all about “preventing Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons.” This is a ludicrous charade that hardly anyone believes anymore, which is being used to justify barbaric sanctions and bullying against the Iranian people. It is a shame on the French that they are dignifying this repugnant American policy towards Iran.

The pay-off for this pair of rogue states is in their mutual carve-up of Africa. As Obama and Hollande state:

“Perhaps nowhere is our new partnership on more vivid display than in Africa.”

The two leaders claim that France “with US logistical and information support” is pushing back “Al Qaeda terrorists in Mali” and “stemming violence” between communities in Central Africa. These are utter lies, easily proven, as can be read in previous editions of this column.

French illegal intervention in Africa has led to more instability and violence for the ulterior purpose of gaining a neo-imperialist foothold on the world’s richest continent for natural resources. Under the cynical guise of “upholding security and humanitarian peace”, the real motive is securing rich natural resources for Western capital, while trying to block China’s legitimate economic advances gained right across Africa over the past decade.

As the main former colonial power in Africa, with advantages conferred by language and historical contacts, the Americans need the French to spearhead the new military re-conquest of that continent.

A case in point is Djibouti in the Horn of Africa. This former French colony with its Francophone administration serves as a military base for some 4,000 American troops based at Camp Lemmonier, adjacent to the main civilian airport. From the base in Djibouti, the Americans operate drones, attack helicopters and troop transport planes to support the newly formed US East Africa Response Force that reaches into Somalia, Sudan and Kenya, among other countries.

That is why Obama is extending a welcoming hand to Hollande this week. Despite the florid, grandiloquent language, the Americans and the French are emerging as the world’s new terrorist tango team, and both of them know it.

Finian Cunningham, is a columnist at Press TV, the Strategic Culture Foundation and a Writer on Dandelion Salad. He can be reached at cunninghamfinian@gmail.com.

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Propaganda Alert!

FACT SHEET: U.S.-France Security Cooperation

The White House
Office of the Press Secretary
For Immediate Release
February 11, 2014

The United States and France are long-standing allies and friends. Today, more than 232 years after the French Navy supported George Washington’s forces at Yorktown and nearly 70 years after 160,000 Allied troops landed on beaches of Normandy to begin the liberation of France, our alliance continues to enhance the security of our countries, the Transatlantic region, and the world.

Operations and Planning

The United States coordinates closely with France on operational issues around the world. In Mali, the Central African Republic, and elsewhere in Africa, our collaboration has focused on combating terrorism and developing regional capabilities to increase security and stability. In the Middle East, our close cooperation played a significant role in securing agreement to remove Syria’s chemical weapons stockpiles, and more recently, the Harry S. Truman Carrier Strike Group conducted combined operations with the French navy’s Task Force 473 in the U.S. 5th Fleet area of responsibility. Off the Horn of Africa and in the Red Sea, our nations have contributed to combatting piracy and promoting maritime security through the Combined Maritime Forces. The United States also partners with France in the Pacific and Caribbean, where our security forces work together to address a wide variety of challenges in the maritime domain.

Exercise and Training Programs

To support our extensive operational cooperation, the United States maintains an active training and exercise program with France. Interoperability is an important focus, and programs to enhance the ability of our forces to work together include French participation in the Red Flag series of exercises and carrier landing exchanges during the recent deployment of the Charles de Gaulle carrier battle group with U.S. forces in the Middle East. France has been instrumental in providing training areas for our Special Marine Air-Ground Task Force, currently deployed in Spain. Both the United States and France are active participants in NATO exercises, such as last November’s STEADFAST JAZZ, which included U.S. land force elements under a French-led land component command.

Exchange Personnel

The United States maintains an extensive bilateral personnel exchange program with France. Currently, there are almost 100 personnel serving in long-term exchanges and training programs, as well as numerous other personnel at short-term training courses. The personnel exchange program has grown over the past year, as operations in Africa and extensive cooperation elsewhere have led to a greater need for full-time coordination. In addition to our bilateral efforts, the United States fully supported French reintegration into NATO’s military command structures. The French military maintains a significant presence at Allied Command Transformation in Norfolk, VA, which has been commanded by a French four-star general since 2009.

Space

The United States maintains an active partnership with France on space security, working to improve the safety, sustainability, and stability of outer space activities. The most recent example of this partnership was the signing of a Space Situational Awareness Agreement between U.S. Strategic Command and the French Ministry of Defense on January 21, 2014, which will enhance information sharing between our two countries in this critical domain. This agreement will make a significant contribution to spaceflight safety as we increase our ability to share data on space objects, thereby reducing the risk of collision. Both nations are also actively engaged in the development of bilateral and multilateral space transparency and confidence building measures to encourage responsible actions in, and the peaceful use of, space.

Cybersecurity

The United States values working with France on cybersecurity, which is important for ensuring the vibrancy of our economies and enhancing our shared security. We are long-standing partners in this area, and the United States looks forward to continuing its collaboration with France to further strategic policy objectives, improve network defense, cooperate in responding to cyber incidents, and build upon existing diplomatic and military cooperation on cyber issues. As NATO allies, the United States and France are committed to integrating cyber defense measures into NATO networks, as well as identifying and delivering national cyber defense capabilities that strengthen Alliance collaboration and interoperability. The United States continues to seek new opportunities for collaboration with our European partners on cybersecurity, including through dialogue with the European Union.

Acquisition

The United States and France have an active defense procurement program focused on unique capabilities to supplement national production and maintaining interoperability. The most recent of these programs was the expedited delivery of two unarmed MQ-9 Reaper unmanned aerial systems to French forces operating in Africa. The aircraft, delivered on December 30, 2013, to support immediate operational requirements, are part of a longer-term project with an option to purchase up to 16 aircraft with a total value of $1.5 billion. Other notable projects include U.S. HELLFIRE II missiles for the Tigre helicopter, Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS) aircraft that are currently undergoing mid-life upgrades, E-2 Hawkeye aircraft that operate from the Charles de Gaulle, and unique carrier holdback bars to support carrier operations.

Nuclear Security

Looking forward to the 2014 Nuclear Security Summit, the United States plans to continue to cooperate closely with France on civil nuclear security. To reduce the risk of terrorist access to civil nuclear facilities and materials, both nations will hold regular exchanges to strengthen nuclear security culture, security of nuclear materials in transport, cybersecurity, and security of sensitive nuclear information.

The United States is partnering with France, as well as Belgium and Germany, to develop and qualify new high-density low-enriched uranium (LEU) fuels in order to convert all remaining research reactors in Europe from highly enriched uranium (HEU) to LEU fuel. With these partners, the United States is also working to minimize the use of HEU in the production of the medical isotope molybdenum-99, while ensuring that reliable supplies of this important medical isotope are available to patients worldwide. The United States is also working with these countries to advance nuclear forensics technologies, strengthen international safeguards at declared nuclear facilities, and develop software tools to assess the effectiveness of physical protection systems against outsider threats.

Countering Nuclear Terrorism

The United States and France, together with the United Kingdom, have a robust partnership to strengthen our collective efforts to reduce the risks of nuclear terrorism. This cooperation is founded upon a strong pillar of mutual trust and respect, and the United States and France remain dedicated to our joint work within the P3 to improve our technical and operational capabilities to diagnose, render safe, characterize, and dispose of a nuclear threat device. We also continue to recognize our shared responsibility to engage the international community to inform and strengthen worldwide preparedness to detect and thwart the threat of nuclear terrorism. The United States and France are committed to gain the benefits of our unique experiences securing sensitive technical information, technology, and nuclear material to continuously improve upon the efficacy of our respective security regimes. On the basis of this knowledge, the United States will continue to work with France and international partners to enhance the effectiveness and sustainability of their physical security measures to decrease the likelihood that terrorists could acquire any amount of nuclear material to execute an attack.

I couldn’t agree more with Finian on his evaluation of this tawdry spectacle, only I cannot summon much enthusiasm for Chinese or Russian tactics either, as the latter seem to be comfortably in the arms of a corrupt neo-orthodox revival ~ camorra paradise ~ whilst China just cannot restrain its ambition to ape America, pursuing material avarice even beyond the scale of its gluttonous paragon, since the peoples’ sheikdom is already planning to dig up the Moon now that Africa looks like such high Franco-Candu-US risk!

Aren’t we missing a trick here? Have we already forgotten so soon that the AAAS warned some years ago now, that for the whole world to “live like Americans” would require, what was it, three or even four more planets? Maybe the Chinese have dreams of settling one of Jupiter’s satellites. Perhaps they’ve been reading too much Arthur C Clarke and are great fans of Kubrick.

This story doesn’t look like it’s going to have a happy ending back here on Earth, the way it’s unfolding.

Hollande’s popularity at home being almost in the dumps, he is trying to find support elsewhere no matter what the costs. This guy must be deaf, dumb and blind not to realize that the US will use France – as it uses every other ‘partner’, and dump it as soon as no longer useful.

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